Ref; 14 pounds of smoked cheese!

[TomKnollRFV]

Preface; I pulled these at 3.5 hours, I was tempted to go for 5 hours but I didn't want to end up leaving my smoker out overnight in case of rain because I was to tired to bring it in.

All of the cheese smoked here came from Hennings.The cheddar is aged, I am not sure how long. It was discounted and in part I think because it was odds and ends of cutting cheese up. I believe their minimum aging is 9 months though. The white cheddar is all plain white cheddar. They had aged white as well, but I opted for the normal.

The wire rack in the middle has a block of horseradish, I read alot of people like it smoked, so I thought I would try this. The upper left is 'Cholula' cheddar. I lack the hot sauce on hand to compare, but the cheese it self is very good. I bought a block to not smoke as well. The bottom left is a chunk of cranberry chipotle. The right side is just normal cheese on that rack.

I'll be letting them sit out for an hour and then overnighting in my fridge and vaccum sealing them up tommorrow. I plan to do each piece in it's own package. I got smaller foodsaver rolls for this. <For 7 dollars a roll vs the normal 10 dollars, so not bad really>. I plan to try and resist this till midsummer...

 

[Braz]

Looks like a nice variety. What wood did you use for the smoke? Good luck waiting till mid-summer.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Oh I forgot to mention that Braz! I ran pure apple wood. I was thinking of using apple/cherry blend..except I forgot where I put the apple/cherry blend LOL!

 

[wimpy69]

It’s driving me crazy. I’ve been eating a lot of cheese for some reason.

I got a craving for the stuff. Do you think maybe that’s an allergy?

Yeah.

I don’t know, I can’t get enough cheese. I feel like a big mouse.

 

[wimpy69]

Had too, looks great, gonna try to get some done this weekend. Temps look good for sat night. Enjoy.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Ha!

Wimpy that movie is great..and sure is!! Hate waiting for the cheese to age..

 

[fivetricks]

Wimpy, I would like that post twice if I could :-)

 

[crazymoon]

TKRFV, Nice color on your cheese, it will be worth the wait !

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Yah I actually wonder if going by the colour vs time is a viable method. I always associate a good smoked cheese with the colour.

Any one else got thoughts on this?

 

[fivetricks]

Last two times I smoked cheese I did four hours each time. I got two vastly different color finishes. I'm beginning to wonder the same thing about color v time. I hope this latest (less colored) batch is as good as the first, I'm having doubts though.

 

[crazymoon]

IMHO if you have color you will have a nice smoky flavor to the cheese. If the cheese is still light colored it needs a bit more smoke,personal preference I guess!

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Thought I'd comment on the vaccum sealing..alot of the blocks were cracked today. Never had them dry out like that in an overnight in my lil fridge. Maybe to much thermal mass changes..no biggie really to me.

But I decided to get smaller vaccum seal bags for the cheese, and Walmart had some marked down in cost. Why not right? I didn't exactly read the fine print, I got FoodSaver seal and peal bags.I think I also discovered why they were marked down; they crinkle quite easily when vaccum sealing. I appreciate the idea that you give it a strong pull and it'll open, but they need to work on that material!

I actually wish I had purchased more of that pumpkin cheese now. It doesn't taste like pumpkin pie, but it has alot of classic pioneer esque spices in it. The giant scotch pie I make uses alot of the same. Would be delicious with some on top or the side. Alot of nutmeg in there!

 

[gmc2003]

I'm not completely sold on the color equals taste hypothesis. I've smoked cheese in 35* weather and had very little color, but a great smoke flavor. I've also smoked cheese in 60* weather that had a beautiful dark color, and had an identical smoke flavor. My smoking process was the same except for the temps they were smoked at. Man I hope this makes sense. My wife is talking to me while I'm trying to type.

Chris

 

[TomKnollRFV]

I'm not completely sold on the color equals taste hypothesis. I've smoked cheese in 35* weather and had very little color, but a great smoke flavor. I've also smoked cheese in 60* weather that had a beautiful dark color, and had an identical smoke flavor. My smoking process was the same except for the temps they were smoked at. Man I hope this makes sense. My wife is talking to me while I'm trying to type.

Chris

I understand what you mean entirely. Flavour wise, as long as the smoke is picked up by the cheese the colour shouldn't matter.

But the best smoked cheeses I had were always dark and pretty crumbly from smoke. <That and I suspect they were also very well aged>.

Maybe the colour is purely a visual thing. But they do know how you perceive food can impact the taste..so maybe that's all it is.